STAT: Ebola, Zika, and a flu pandemic: a Q&A with departing CDC Director Tom Frieden
“…During [CDC Director Tom Frieden’s] tenure, the country’s premier public health institution faced back-to-back-to-back health crises. The largest ever Ebola outbreak. A multi-state outbreak of fungal meningitis, triggered by contaminated steroid products made by the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Mass. The Zika epidemic in the Americas. The CDC’s Emergency Operations Center, which is only stood up in times of outbreak responses, operated during more than 90 percent of Frieden’s tenure. As the clock ticks down on his time in office, Frieden, 56, reflected on the frustration and joys of being CDC director, the scariest moment of his tenure, and his thoughts about the public health challenges still facing the country. His remarks were at times candid and at others guarded, particularly when questions touched on the challenges the incoming administration may pose for the agency and his as yet unnamed successor…” (Branswell, 1/18).